To reduce a fraction to the lowest terms equivalent: divide the numerator and denominator by their greatest common factor, GCF
To calculate the greatest common factor, GCF:
- 1. Factor the numerator and the denominator (into prime factors), build their prime factorizations.
- 2. Multiply all their common prime factors, taken by the lowest exponents.
1. Factor the numerator and the denominator:
To factor a number (into prime factors) - or, in other words, to break it down to prime factors - or, in other words, to build its prime factorization: find the prime numbers that multiply together to get that number.
The prime factorizations:
356,386 = 2 × 73 × 2,441
356,386 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
2,000,028 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 166,669 = 22 × 3 × 166,669
2,000,028 is a composite number.
356,386/2,000,028 =
(356,386 ÷ 2) / (2,000,028 ÷ 2) =
178,193/1,000,014
Yet another method to reduce the fraction
To reduce a fraction without calculating the GCF: factor its numerator and denominator, then all the common prime factors are easily identified and crossed out.
356,386/2,000,028 =
(2 × 73 × 2,441)/(22 × 3 × 166,669) =
((2 × 73 × 2,441) ÷ 2) / ((22 × 3 × 166,669) ÷ 2) =
(73 × 2,441)/(2 × 3 × 166,669) =
178,193/1,000,014
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
178,193/1,000,014 =
178,193 ÷ 1,000,014 =
0.178190505333 ≈
0.18